Yeah, I know most of it is fake.
I mean, a castle? In the desert?
A Venice canal? In the desert?
The Eiffel Tower?
Yup. In the desert.
But I was surprised at the craftsmanship and, believe it or not- I found inspiration for my little bungalow in of some of the casinos in Vegas.
One last set of pictures from the Capital. (Btw, the eagles at the bottom are part of the lamps you can see in the first picture. You can’t find those at your local lighting store anymore…)
Sounds painful, but surprisingly pleasant…
My parents know how I feel about houses with “character”- they may not always understand it, but they recognize that I’m a bit of a throw-back and embrace it.
So while M & I were visiting Nashville this weekend, my dad took us on a tour of nearby downtown Franklin. Every house, and I mean EVERY HOUSE, I saw downtown was either “Ooo, I like that one.” or a “That’s a really pretty house.”
I’m sure it got old real fast. If fact, I even got tired of hearing it come out of my mouth.
But my dad was a trooper, and continued to drive us around for a least another half an hour looking at houses. It may have had something to do with a vast conspiracy intended to get us to move down there- but it’s probably best not to dwell on ulterior motives, right?
Big beautiful porches, carved woodwork, quirky rotundas. And the wide, graceful balconies. OH, the balconies alone could make a girl weak in the knees…
You want history? You can’t step out of your car in Franklin and not trip over it. It has Civil War history oozing out of every crevice in the sidewalks. You want character? Look no further than the traffic circle, the cute independent shops, and the churches on every corner….
Unfortunately, M & I aren’t ready to move…nor do we have the big bucks needed to wallow in such well-defined character….but I can always go for another visit.
Swooning…pining…lusting…hankering….
I love old houses…The history, the craftsmanship, the character. Not sure why as they’re usually more trouble than you expect- which is why I’m…hankering would be a proper Southern word for it…over the Cottage Living New Orleans dream house. I realize I probably sound like an ad for the magazine, but I honestly like the house- the floor plan, character, design- almost all of it. And while it’s brand new, I like that it seems like an old house. While I might have chosen a different decorating style for way up here in da Nor’tern states, ya know- the look definitely fits New Orleans. If I lived in the South, this would be my kind of house.
M & I visited New Orleans right before he was deployed- and almost a year to the day before Hurricane Katrina hit. We had so much fun exploring the city- the architecture and history were major bonuses for me. Every corner seemed like a photograph waiting to happen. I wanted to move there for the winter- and kept saying to him “There’s an apartment for me to rent- it probably wouldn’t cost too much…”
When the levees broke, both of us- me in Milwaukee, him in Iraq- were floored by the destruction to a city that was so vital when we had visited. Houses (and residents) filled with history and character were just washed away or abandoned as trash- a loss I don’t think has been realized by the bureaucrats promising to help. While the slow pace of rebuilding is frustrating, I’m amazed at the tenacity and ingenuity of the residents that have come back- including building small spaces that don’t look or feel like small spaces (i.e. the great “Katrina” Cusato Cottages), that an average person can use to get back on their feet. Maybe a little more thought- and less sweeping the problem under the rug- and we would have a solid plan to rebuild such a historic city…
So, didn’t mean for that to get away from me- I’ll get off my soapbox now…
The second opinion we were waiting on for the bathroom fell through last night- no sign of the guy. So, onto a #3- if we can find a reliable #3 out of the 1,000s in the phone book.
Until then, feel free to enjoy a random architecture picture- I never knew (until 5 or 6 years ago) that that Cream City brick (the yellow brick in the picture) was unique to Milwaukee….other cities’ bricks are red because of the iron in their soil.
Feel free to use that little tidbit the next time you’re on Jeopardy.
So, if you’ve been reading my other blog- A Cotterpin Life- you’ll have seen that we went to the Amana Colonies. Absolutely beautiful old buildings- I would love to have a house with the same type of brickwork.
Or even have a walkway of cobblestone coming up to the house…maybe that’ll be on my spring renovation list…
